A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographicae 2. (Szeged, 1998)

Grynaeus Tamás: „Lappongva gyógyítgató paraszt orvosok” Szeged környékén a századfordulótól napjainkig

ZEMPLÉNI, András 1983 Le sens de l'insensé. (De l'interprétation magicoreligieuse des „troubles psychiques")- Psychiatrie Française 83/4. 305-323. ZSIGMOND Erzsébet 1995 Sirató (Életem panaszos könyve). Kolozsvár. ZSIGMOND József 1994 Előadás a MOT Népi Orvoslás Szakosztályának konferenciáján. Budapest, 1994. XI. 4. Traditional Healers in the Neighbourhood of Szeged TAMÁS GRYNAEUS On the basis of his and others' fieldwork the author intended to record the traditional healers from the turn of the century to the end of the 1970s. This enumeration could not be complete and to the same extent exact due to several factors (such as the discrepancy, inaccuracy, eventuality of data collected in fieldwork; meanwhile altered political borders; wars). The author in his article considered as a traditional healer a person who treated people also outside of his family in a traditional way, using incantation, praying, smearing, coaly water, bathing and striking on she sick part of the body, mainly free of charge. The latter is in close connection with the solemnity of healing and its religiosity. The difference is not always clear between human and animal healers and between the function and features of the healer ('gyógyító') - the soul seer ('halottlátó') - the 'táltos' (Hungarian type of shaman) and the holy men ('szentember'). There are various transitional steps between the specialist treating only one particular decease and the wise men ('tudós') curing several different types of illnesses. Healers were mostly women - the rate varies in different villages. Midwives were always females while only men could heal Saint Anthony's fire. In some cases the order of bequeathing healing within the family was also revealed sometimes with a generation leap or to the opposite sex. According to a widespread belief the healer - partly or entirely - takes over the client's pain, suffers instead. The number of the studied healers in this period of time and territory (Map 1.) is remarkably high (251), though calculations and theoretical considerations suggest that in reality this number should be threefour times as many. After dealing with two healers with great knowledge and large activity area (Map 2.), also several other 'specialists' the author discusses the traditional healers of a village (Tápé) and a homesteadsettlement (Domaszék) more in details. Finally he enumerates the known healers by settlement (Table I.), The introductory part and the references provide further information about the research done so far in the Carpathian basin on healers with great popularity and that of small communities (villages, small districts). 165